How Do Ya Like Them Apples?

The images we conjure up from even the smallest trigger are amazing. How the brain works is nothing short of wondrous. And we’re learning more every day. I just watched a PBS show on the brain. It showed methods of improving performance at any age. I’m going to adopt the suggestions — it couldn’t hurt. I was reminded of my Santa Sox that say “Is it too late to be good?” Whew! I thought I was doomed.

Turns out we can increase elasticity and create new pathways in the brain. I made a monthly donation to KQED so I could get the prize — a set of instructional DVDs telling me what to do to save myself! I promise to share it with my boomer friends.

Back to the apples…I had forgotten to eat an apple a day to keep the doctor away. Recently, while on a road trip with Lynn, we stopped at her parents’ house in Fort Worth, Texas. Alice and Ken could not be nicer or more fun. My timing was good — I was there for Ken’s eighty-seventh birthday dinner. As we sat down to make plans for the birthday outing Ken whipped out an apple and started munching.

Alice noted the surprised look on my face. “Ken is a firm believer and has eaten an apple a day ever since he was a little kid. Oh, well, there was that one time he forgot and left it in his briefcase right before retiring. He discovered it a year later when he was cleaning out his desk. He pulled out a dried-up, shriveled, little ball that was once an apple which he did not eat. I don’t think he got sick from missing his apple that day, but he might have if he had eaten it upon discovery.”

Ken chuckled at the story Alice told and it was clear to me that she was the apple of his eye.

Watching the slender, fit octogenarian maneuver through some construction projects around the house I thought, Hmmm, maybe there is something to this apple-a-day stuff.

When I got home from the trip I went to Grocery Outlet and got a huge bag of Fuji apples for a mere $2.99. I like Fuji the best although I grew up in Brooklyn eating McIntosh which were the most popular New York variety — yeah, a New York apple from the Big Apple. My good friend Stuart, who has a wealth of information in his brain cautioned me, “Stay away from crab apples — there are enough grumpy people around — and whatever you do never, ever engage with road apples,” and he grinned.

“Humf,” I grunted. Just because I grew up in Brooklyn doesn’t mean I don’t know what road apples are! I’ve been around the block a couple of times. And then some. Plus, I’ve had some good advice from my Jewish and Italian uncles. I can still hear Uncle Charlie in his gravelly voice, “Don’t take any wooden apples…er, I mean nickels. I guess I was thinking about my mother’s wooden bowl of wooden fruit that sits on her counter in Costa Rica.

I mean, really. She lives in Costa Rica where you can just step outside and pluck some fresh fruit from the nearest tree and stick it in the bowl. Yet, she prefers her wooden apples to have on display. It could be worse — it could be wax. At least she doesn’t have plastic covers on her couch.

It’s been four days since I bought the humongous sack of Fujis and I’ve only eaten two apples. I think about eating one, but somehow the timing is never right. I don’t want an apple first thing in the morning. If I don’t remember to put one in the car I probably won’t be near the fridge when the urge strikes, as I am usually out and about during the day. If I take it in the car and don’t eat it right away, it gets mealy in the heat and certainly not appealing. That‘s it — I could peel it, slice it, bag it, put it in a cooler with ice and be ready to eat it at any point during the day.

Whew! This is getting way too complicated. I think I’ll give all the apples away and study my new DVDs about brainpower. I can just create new brain pathways and trick myself into thinking I actually did eat the apples and just stay healthy anyway.

Well instead, I do half an Augucate every morning (good Oils for the ticker) with Ghost Pepper sauce, the Capsacian is good for the Ticker also. But then maybe I should add an apple a day so the brain can keep up with the heart, along with the Banana a day I eat..

I don’t remember seeing your mom’s wooden apples……maybe she hides them while I’m there. Or maybe I need an apple a day and your brainpower DVDs to remember seeing her bowl of wooden apples. I’ll check the next time I’m there and I’ll let you know if they’re wood or wax.

She has a wooden boat-like dish that sits in the middle of the eating counter in the kitchen. I move it off to the side every time I sit there. If I leave for even a minute, it’s back in the center when I return. Sometimes I mess with her and push it at an angle to see if she notices. She waits until I’m not looking and positions it smack-dab in the middle again! The pieces of fruit are not all apples, but it was a story about apples…Thanks for reading and commenting.

Love this. You must share brain power secrets with me, every so often when I can’t find that name or word, I think I am losing it! Most people tell me it happens to them, some as young as 30! I follow your lead on this😘

The first thing that caught my eye was the gorgeous wooden bowl…and then of course, the lovely apples which I always make sure I enjoy when I visit NY! Thanks for keeping us entertained, it was a great blog.